President Trump

[Loredoctor]

Haha, doesn't take a genius to figure out that this admin will probably have some particularly juicy stories either.

Bloody Trump.

But yes...doubt there has ever been a politician where it wasn't the case.

--A

By the way, I'm about to conduct research into DMT soon!

[Hashi Lebwohl]

Trump actually said "Joe Biden was a good Vice President only because he knew how to kiss Barack Obama's ass" at his rally in Minneapolis. Jeez--way to piss off the competition and upset their base. I guess that explains why anti-Trump protesters were throwing urine--no, seriously.

He will be in Dallas on the 17th. I wonder how big the riot will be....

[wayfriend]

Deny, distract, discredit.
Deny, distract, discredit.

Look again. Giuliani's guys got caught funneling foreign money into a PAC, not the official campaign itself.

Oh, I looked. The president's personal lawyer's men got caught funneling foreign money into a PAC supporting the president. (PACs are where the dark money goes; you can't put it directly into a campaign without everyone seeing it.)

And you're like "meh". (Country, meet Party.)

Meanwhile, the story with the former ambassador seems to be being put together as well.

Yovanovitch had pushed Giuliani to take his "investigation" into Biden through official channels. So Giuliani's guys (the same guys as the money laundering guys) started spreading some lies about her. (One of them was the lie about the do-not-prosecute list.) And they put a crap ton of money into Pete Sessions campaign, met with him, and lo he wrote a letter asking that she be canned. This didn't really work, but they persevered. More lies - one of which was that she was badmouthing Trump - were "reported" by Fox News. Trump watches TV. Bye bye ambassador.
[link] [link]

[Zarathustra]

"The president's guys got caught funneling foreign money into his campaign."

"So what? Biden's son was a lobbyist!!"

(Is "lobbyist" one of those things that's only bad when Dems do it?)

It wasn't his son, it was Joe Biden himself.

Let me spell it out for you: a notoriously corrupt foreign company gives the vice president nearly a million dollars and hires his unqualifed son for an extremely lucrative job, all while they are being investigated for corruption. And you don't see a connection to Joe stopping the investigation?? Why do you think this company gave them both so much money? What do you think they got in return?

The investigation stopped after Joe got Shokin fired. That's a fact. The fact that you and the rest of the Dems aren't suspicious of this is astonishing.

[Hashi Lebwohl]

And you're like "meh". (Country, meet Party.)

Have they impeached him yet? No? Then my response is going to be "meh" until they do something about it.

Ms. Lebwohl is a Republican--and a precinct chair, as well as a voter registrar in our county--but I am not officially a member of any party.

[Gaius Octavius]

I am a proud member of the Chinese Communist Party.

[wayfriend]

Ah, yes. I do remember all those times you didn't criticize Obama because no one had impeached him yet. It's all coming back now.

[Hashi Lebwohl]

The Republicans in Congress had more class than to pursue impeachment against Obama for things which would have been nothing but fabricated, partisan bullshit. The Democrats in Congress right now do not have any class, which is why things are as they are.

[TheFallen]

Ah, yes. I do remember all those times you didn't criticize Obama because no one had impeached him yet. It's all coming back now.

That's disingenuous in the extreme, wf - and as such, oh so typically in character.

Not one single person has claimed that Trump is entirely above criticism, simply because he hasn't yet been impeached.

There is plenty to criticise Trump for, just as there was with Obama - in fact "arrogant blowhard", "loudmouth asshole", "kneejerkishly inept" and their like are fairly commonly and entirely aptly used Tank descriptors for the current POTUS. - just like "duplicitous hypocrite" and its ilk was equally entirely aptly used about Obama.

You're of course deliberately missing the point. It's the ongoing and continuous attempts by the Dems to see if they can come up with some grounds for impeachment that's the issue here. One of these fishing trips seriously needs to result in an actual impeachment attempt - or they'll quite justifiably merely be seen as purely partisan smear campaigns, rather than any form of valid criticism. And if everything is as clear-cut as you and Dems like to make out, where the Hell is that impeachment? Or impeachments?

Sorry, until such a point, such endless fishing trips IMV reflect far worse on (and are far more counterproductive to) the Dems than they do on (and are to) Trump.

[wayfriend]

Not one single person has claimed that Trump is entirely above criticism, simply because he hasn't yet been impeached.

I replied to someone who very literally did exactly that. So why demonstrably throw away your integrity over it?

[TheFallen]

Not one single person has claimed that Trump is entirely above criticism, simply because he hasn't yet been impeached.

I replied to someone who very literally did exactly that. So why demonstrably throw away your integrity over it?

No you didn't. Seriously, get some objectivity here.

There's an oh so obvious world of difference between deciding not to criticise Trump for alleged wrongdoings which STILL have not resulted in any impeachment and being incapable of criticising Trump for anything at all.

[Hashi Lebwohl]

Trump deserves the criticism he earns for himself, even the criticism which I have directed towards him from time to time. If he has done something impeachable, though, then his political opponents need to make a decision.

Today is 14 October 2019 and Trump has not been impeached yet. The Democrats must not think he is all that bad, after all, else they would do something about it.

[wayfriend]

Let's see what the Dem's are "fishing" for today ...

Gordon Sondland is reportedly planning to tell Congress that his 'no quid pro quo' denial on Ukraine came directly from Trump

"I think it's crazy to withhold security assistance for help with a political campaign," Taylor texted Sondland.

Roughly five hours later, after reportedly phoning Trump, Sondland responded to Taylor.

"The President has been crystal clear: no quid pro quo's of any kind," Sondland wrote. "The President is trying to evaluate whether Ukraine is truly going to adopt the transparency and reforms that President Zelenskiy promised during his campaign."

Trump and his allies have used Sondland's text as evidence that Trump wasn't trying to withhold the aid for his own personal gain.

[...] The US ambassador to the European Union is reportedly planning to tell Congress that his infamous text message denying a quid pro quo with Ukraine was dictated by President Donald Trump himself - and possibly not truthful. [link]

So Trump tells Sondland what to say ... and then later claims Sondland's words prove his innocence, conveniently forgetting to mention that he dictated them to Sondland.

Former Donald Trump Russia adviser Fiona Hill to appear before lawmakers in impeachment probe

NBC reported that Hill plans to tell congressional panels leading the impeachment effort that Giuliani and Gordan Sondland, the European Union ambassador who has been subpoenaed to appear before the panels, led a shadow policy on Ukraine that went around normal procedures and side-stepped the National Security Council. [link]

This may be the tip of the most important iceberg spotted to date. Shadow policy, foreign money, incurring corruption - why is Ukraine so important to Trump?

Journalists are calling on President Donald Trump and his campaign to denounce a video edited to depict Trump violently murdering news organizations and political opponents.

The video was played at a conference hosted by a pro-Trump group at his Miami resort last week, according to a report in The New York Times. It includes the logo for Trump's 2020 re-election campaign.

In the video, which is an edited scene from the film "Kingsman: The Secret Service," Trump enters a "Church of Fake News" and opens fire on members of the congregation, who have various news organizations' logos or the faces of Democratic lawmakers and other critics superimposed onto their bodies.

Trump proceeds to shoot, stab and set fire to the late Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., 2020 presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., and 2016 Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton and former President Barack Obama. [link]

The word "ilk" comes to mind. As in, these are Trump's.

Why did Attorney General Bill Barr meet Wednesday night with Fox News chairman Rupert Murdoch, and (as the New York Times reported) do so at the media mogul's home?

Indeed. What possible legitimate reason is there for the AG to have a private discussion with the Official Trump Propaganda Network? In case you don't know, The DoJ should not be working as Trump's political wing.

President Donald Trump said again on Friday that Americans need identification to buy groceries, which remains not true.

[...] Friday wasn't the first time that Trump claimed Americans need identification for their grocery purchases. He said the same at a Florida rally in July 2018.

The day after the Florida rally, his then-press secretary, Sarah Sanders, told reporters that Trump was referring to purchases of "beer or wine." But three months after that, Trump told the conservative Daily Caller that ID is required "if you buy, you know, a box of cereal."

Um ... wow?

[Gaius Octavius]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ZeGUqVZwzg

Too bad it's a meme.

[Hashi Lebwohl]

House Representative Matt Gaetz, who is on Jerry Nadler's Judiciary Committee, was kicked out of one of the closed-door meetings being held by the Intelligence Committee where they were discussing impeachment inquiry topics. I guess Democrats don't want Republicans listening in--they don't want other people to leak blurbs to the media so they can control all the leaks. These meetings are also closed to the public for the same reasons--they don't want people talking about what is going on in these meetings.

I still maintain that the Trump Administration should refuse any and all subpoenas or documents requests until a full impeachment inquiry on the floor of the House of Representatives is underway. The House needs to be reminded of its power limitations--it cannot simply order the Executive to bend to its will.

[SoulBiter]

Saw that yesterday. As you said, the Dem's are having these Dem only inquiry topics and they are controlling "what" is leaked. By doing so they can control the narrative and what the public hears. More important to them, they are now controlling what "goes on record" in these impeachment hearings. That will become important if this actually makes it to a Senate trial, because they will reference the "record" as part of their case against the President.

[wayfriend]

House Representative Matt Gaetz, who is on Jerry Nadler's Judiciary Committee, was kicked out of one of the closed-door meetings being held by the Intelligence Committee where they were discussing impeachment inquiry topics. I guess Democrats don't want Republicans listening in--they don't want other people to leak blurbs to the media so they can control all the leaks.

Or, you know, maybe it was something far less nefarious.

An official working on the impeachment inquiry said Gaetz was booted because he does not sit on any of the committees conducting the impeachment investigation.

I guess that explains all the other Republicans who were actually in the meeting but that you didn't mention.

- - - - - - - -

Among the infinite number of things that are far more damning ...

Trump's former top Russia adviser told Congress she saw 'wrongdoing' in US policy toward Ukraine, source says

Fiona Hill, President Donald Trump's former top Russia adviser, raised concerns about Rudy Giuliani's role in US foreign policy toward Ukraine, telling lawmakers on Monday that she saw "wrongdoing" in the American foreign policy and tried to report it to officials including the National Security Council's attorney, according to multiple sources.

"She saw wrongdoing related to the Ukraine policy and reported it," one source said.

The same source told CNN that Hill testified that former national security adviser John Bolton referred to Giuliani -- Trump's personal attorney -- as a "hand grenade" who was "going to blow everybody up," as first reported by The New York Times.

Hill additionally told lawmakers about what she described as a rogue operation carried out by US Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland and White House acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney, which Bolton characterized as being like a "drug deal," that source said. [link]

I guess Trump didn't want any Democrats listening in ... while he subverted the Ukraine government for his personal gain.

[Zarathustra]

he subverted the Ukraine government for his personal gain.

How did he subvert their government? And what was his personal gain?

[Savor Dam]

If (as I am pretty confident you will contend) his intention when asking for the Ukraine prosecutors to open / reopen investigations was purely in the interests of fighting corruption, is it not notable how narrowly focused the request was? Is the matter of Burisma and the Bidens the only extant corruption in Ukraine...other than the notorious and possibly mythical server?

Perhaps you are correct; I sure don't have the relevant facts, but the appearance of seeking personal gain in the form of opposition research on a likely political rival (and settling an old score from 2016) is difficult to ignore.

[Hashi Lebwohl]

Or, you know, maybe it was something far less nefarious.

Why, then, are the meetings not open to the public? What are they trying to hide?

Today is 15 October 2019 and Trump has not yet been impeached. Why haven't they done it yet? Oh, yes, that's right--the Senate won't remove him from office.